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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26269117">A Letter from an Old Friend</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiddencait/pseuds/hiddencait'>hiddencait</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Regency, Background Spock Prime/Uhura Prime, Epistolary, F/M, Pre Spock/Nyota Uhura, Unexplained Time Travel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:21:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>727</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26269117</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiddencait/pseuds/hiddencait</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the older generation attempts to advise the younger.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Spock Prime &amp; Nyota Uhura</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fandom Giftbox 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Letter from an Old Friend</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRaven/gifts">LittleRaven</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>You have no idea how excited I was to see mentions of both epistolary fics and Regency AUs, especially related to Star Trek AOS. I decided to combine all of them, hopefully into a short fic you will enjoy. I'll admit, I hand waved away precisely how Spock Prime and Uhura Prime arrived in the current Regency timeline, but what can you do?</p>
<p>I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dear Miss Nyota Uhura,</p>
<p>I daresay I have attempted to address this letter some dozens of times thus far but have quite failed completely. It is less your mode of address that has caused me issue than my own. We – and our counterparts both past and present – are quite caught within circumstances so far outside the realm of common understanding, that it is hard to know how best to proceed forward.</p>
<p>My own Nyota seems less… confounded by the events that caused us to appear at the London townhouse of my younger self. It has been… nostalgic, to see a time and place we both left behind many years ago. Nyota’s Season was considered far more successful than my experience amongst the Ton, as you might surmise.</p>
<p>How I caught her eye long enough for her to form an attachment is still quite as much a mystery to myself as it was to the Ton of our time. I certainly had not thought I encouraged it, not even welcomed it, fool though I once was.</p>
<p>I know that circumstance may not repeat, of course. Nyota has been quite strident with me in her reminders that we must not assume we know you and the young Mr. Spock’s futures, but I suppose an old man cannot help but meddle in the affairs of the young.</p>
<p>So, on to the purpose of my letter – scandalous though it might be for a man not your relative to be writing you thusly. I would offer some… advice, I suppose, on the subject of my younger self. You are free to ignore it, if you wish, but I assure you my intentions hold nothing but hope for your future happiness above all else.</p>
<p>You should know – and perhaps already do – that he will not easily allow himself to return your affections. If you have met the Ambassador, you may begin to understand the restraint and pride of duty with which my younger self has been raised to comport himself. Neither will aid him in finding a supportive and loving spouse, as he most certainly needs; nor would his father recognize that his son would do well to focus on those aspects of a marriage alliance first before any other considerations.</p>
<p>I love my mother, and have no doubt that my father did as well; however, from his own perspective, their marriage did not begin with such affections, and he did not intend to succumb to them either. My father chose Amanda Grayson because she was a bright mind of the Ton, charming and intelligent, and undeniably a diplomat at heart.</p>
<p>My mother chose <em>him</em> because she found him to be a challenge, one she could see herself enjoying more than the other swains who sought her hand.</p>
<p>They have both since agreed that these conflicting motivations made the early years of their marriage quite a trial before they found themselves properly in love.</p>
<p>My fear is that young Spock may seek a bride as his father did: with an eye for the purpose of a wife, as opposed to the companionship.</p>
<p>I must confess at first I myself did so. It was some years before I realized the gem I had in my bride, and I fear I caused her some distress during said years before I allowed myself to cherish her, instead of merely wedding her.</p>
<p>As I have said, I cannot say if your own courtship – if you do indeed choose the same as my Nyota did – will follow the self-same path. It is likely our mere existence may have changed the opinions of you and Spock. If so, I hope that change is only for the good.</p>
<p>I cannot know, of course, but that is my hope.</p>
<p>I suppose I have rattled on like the old fool my dear one occasionally calls me, but I could not help my wish to write to you in hopes that I might cast a light upon the mind and heart of my younger self. I was better for the love of Nyota, and I know he would be as well if he allows himself to be.</p>
<p>I beg you forgive me my meddling, and that I can remain your unlikely friend.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>… Once again I fail to properly address myself. So I suppose I can only sign this as “your old friend.”</p>
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